WTC Final 2023: How India missed Rishabh Pant against Australia

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India's quest for an ICC trophy has continued after their latest defeat in the WTC Final 2023 at the hands of Australia.

It was a disappointing outing yet again from the Indian team in an ICC final as they lost the match by a mammoth 209 runs at the Oval. An underwhelming outing from the batters coupled with poor bowling in the crucial stage led to their demise.

It is India's second consecutive loss in WTC Finals. India lost the WTC Final 2021 at the hands of New Zealand, under the captaincy of Virat Kohli.

Amid the disappointment of defeat, India can still garner a lot of pride for their performance in the longest format over the last couple of years. The Indian team had some decent outings and played some outstanding cricket.

A huge hole which appeared before the WTC Final is the absence of Rishabh Pant. The southpaw has been India's highest run-getter in this WTC cycle and missing him was a monumental void.

Pant suffered a road accident last year and was badly injured. He went through multiple surgeries, which have kept him out of action for the last six months and the player is tipped to miss a considerable amount of time in the coming months as well.

Pant's replacement KS Bharat got opportunities in the Border Gavaskar Trophy but largely disappointed. An injury to KL Rahul meant KL Bharat was in keeping duties for the WTC Final, where he did decently, but it was Pant's batting which India missed the most.

Rishabh Pant's flamboyant batting in tough situations and the ability to counterattack opposition was largely missing in the Indian team. He has produced some amazing batting displays in England.

India missed Pant's batting prowess in England

Pant averages 32.7 in England when it comes to Test matches, but he scored 262 runs in his last two matches in England. The batter managed a century and a half-century in a one-off Test match last September as well.

India missed his batting prowess in England and KS Bharat was nowhere near the southpaw when it comes to batting.

In Pant's absence, India failed to accelerate in crunch sitautions

Pant is someone who can demonstrate an aggressive inning which loosens the screw of the opponents. His attacking style often warrants more defensive approach from opposition bowlers. In his absence, India were missing the ruthless edge and thus couldn't break away from Australia's domination when the chips were down.